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Oh my goodness you guys!!!!!!!! I was so happy last night I could have cried. 26 months ago when I started the autoimmune protocol (AIP) to heal my leaky gut, nuts and seeds were my very last thing to give up because they were my very FAVORITE!!! (Read more about my journey to finding the AIP here).

Well, something I haven’t mentioned on the blog yet is that last summer I received a very serious diagnosis. However, it was my “root cause” as far as my exhaustion and multiple increasing food sensitivities, etc. I began treatment right away which has only ramped up the further I go along.

This is what keeps me so terribly busy each and every day… It can take a few years to heal from this. I won’t be sharing more at this time about what the diagnosis was. But, let me just say, it took all of the wind out of my sails and brought me to my knees to a level of grief and suffering like I’ve never experienced. It has taken everything within me just to cope and try to hold on. The grief is finally coming in waves rather than just being at an overwhelming level every single day.

It is the reason I was not able to participate in Diabetes Awareness Month this past November. This diagnosis, for me, is a million times worse than my Type 1 diabetes has ever been in 30 years! And no, I am not saying Type 1 diabetes is a walk in the park by any means! It is incredibly hard and frustrating and all the other difficult words you could think of. And I’m sitting at a 284 right now…. Ugh! I certainly still don’t like diabetes.

Anyway…… this is the reason why I’m starting to be able to reintroduce foods on the AIP that previously made me very sick and unwell. And….. last night I had sunflower butter!!!!!!!! I pulled out of the freezer one of the plantain waffles I made recently and topped it. It was so delicious. This morning I gave Jaim a big hug after I gave him the good news. He was already in bed sleeping when I had this late night snack after a women’s group I attended.

Very happy and pleased. And I just wanted to share. Don’t quit trying to find your root cause. Don’t give up on feeling well despite the 101 setbacks. It’s always, or at least very often…. one step forward and two steps back. And I celebrate the hell out of these steps forward.

Just wanted to share something special… That today is Diabetes Light’s 5 year anniversary! 🎉🌟💐

Five years ago I felt led by God to start this blog and share some of the ways I have sought to find health outside of a system that was only prescribing me insulin, thyroid meds and antidepressants — none of which were working well for me, at all! I felt tired, sick and very, very depressed. I was told I would feel this way the rest of my life as there was nothing more they could do.

Thankfully, I didn’t accept this reality. Part of me inside knew there was something more, a greater light and opportunity for wellness. I found a classical homeopath (actually my mom did!), and the rest is history. I have been on my holistic journey to health ever since — eventually implementing many more life-giving holistic therapies, organic whole food nutrition and daily movement which have only supported me in my quest for wellness even more. 🌿🌸

Has it been easy? Oh, heck no! As a woman living with multiple serious health conditions, I still have my fair share of ups and downs, trials and tribulations and many, many setbacks and tears. But I don’t give up! However, I do get quiet sometimes on the blog when things are really hard. Yet, I keep searching and pressing on, trying to feel my best each and every day so I can not only enjoy life to the fullest but share my love and light with the world and each of you. 💗✨

Bless you and thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing this journey with me. Thank you for believing in me and standing by me even though things have been quieter on the blog with projects being put on hold the last few years as I stepped up my healing. I’m hoping and believing 2017 will bring more of the goodness I have been so excited to share with you for so long. ☺️👏💕

It is an honor to share my life, inspiration, lots of pictures (😬!), fascinating research and personal stories with you.

God bless. 👏✨I hold you in my prayers daily, you are never alone. 🌟💞🌙

Sincerely and with much love always,

Cynthia ✨

ps. I do what I do to help others and make a difference, with an intent to turn my suffering and struggles into light, hope and inspiration for those who may share a similar path. If you have been inspired or helped by my blog in any way, please share my blog and it’s Facebook page* with friends or family or anyone you think may be helped by my message. Thank you.

Four years ago today on December 16, 2011, Diabetes Light: My holistic journey to health began with a blog post about the benefits of coconut oil! Although I definitely felt divinely called to start a holistic blog sharing my story, I was actually in a challenging academic program at the time and procrastinating. Lol. Little did I know I would still be blogging 4 years later and that it would still bring me so much joy every day! I love finding interesting articles and inspiration to share with you on the blog’s Facebook page, and when I have time, blogging and sharing some of the stories of my life.

There is not much I am more passionate about than helping others. Whether it is rattling off facts from one of the many articles or books I’ve read, classes I’ve attended or podcasts I’ve listened to or sharing my personal stories as a woman doing her best to live a full and meaningful life despite the challenges of multiple autoimmune conditions. My hope is that along the way I provide some encouragement and inspiration or at the very least allow others to know they are not alone. Living with invisible chronic health conditions can be very isolating and painful.

I would like to take a moment to thank you for being here. I wouldn’t still be around 4 years later if it weren’t for you! Amazingly there are still a handful of the original members of our Facebook community with us and each week new people find the blog and join us. Your support, presence and encouragement mean more to me than you could ever know. You have allowed me and my blogging to grow and change over the years as I heal and find my way and this is a very beautiful thing. Sharing my voice with the world is part of my calling and you help make it possible by taking interest!

I have some exciting blog posts and recipes coming up in the new year. And I’ll be trying to share my story a bit more with the world too by writing some guest blog posts. One I’m really looking forward to is sharing my story with Hypothyroid Mom! With three quarters of a million fans (750,000!), I was on cloud nine for weeks after she read my story and asked me to write an article to share with her community. Watch for it in the first quarter of 2016.

Also in the new year, my blog name will be changing! The new name will be more reflective of the woman I have become and will be without a disease name in the title! Much more fitting as we are way more than the conditions we live with — even on those days they swamp us and leave us feeling down and blue.

Well, thanks again for being such a special part of my life. Blogging takes a lot of time and energy but sharing my fruits with each of you makes it so much fun and all worth it. You can definitely know you are in community with someone who understands the challenges but doesn’t give up the fight. And for those who feel supported by this, everyone in the Diabetes Light community is in my prayers each and every day. I always wish the best for you and send you light, love, peace and joy.

If I could ask one special favor of you… If you enjoy what I do here at Diabetes Light, please share about my blog with your friends and family. Invite them to join our community on Facebook. This is a holistic lifestyle blog where I share what I learn and experience as I focus on feeling the best I possibly can through real food nutrition, healthy lifestyle habits and holistic therapies. It is applicable to most everyone, chronic health condition or not, with a focus on the health of body, mind, heart and spirit. Thanks and take care.

Happy 8th Anniversary to my dearest Jaim. Our lives became filled with unexpected challenges within months of getting married. I was diagnosed with a life-threatening infection which led to my needing to undergo multiple painful surgeries and a hospitalization where I was told I may not survive. When we should have been enjoying our lives as newlyweds, a home-care nurse would arrive each morning to our house where she would tend to my surgical wound to help me recover.

Shortly after, our carefree way of eating and living changed when a severe gluten intolerance (most likely celiac) was recognized by a functional medicine doctor trying to point an answer to my debilitating fatigue, pain and gastrointestinal issues. These are just a few of the hardships I have experienced with my health during our marriage.

There have been more pain and challenges than any one person should have to endure in an eight year span, but he has been beside me through it all. Even as I tearfully say during the most trying of times when my own patience is running thin, “You didn’t sign up for this. It’s not fair. I didn’t know going in that my health would become so complicated – I wouldn’t have done this to you,” he is quick to respond with, “God gives me strength. Life is hard for everyone. I love you. We will get through this… together.”

Since starting the autoimmune protocol (#AIP) in January of 2015, to try to get my health and our lives back, he has been a tireless trooper ensuring my belly is fed with nourishing food and that I get all the rest, exercise and sunlight I need. Thank you Jaim for loving me through it all, even when I feel so very unlovable. We are going to kick butt these next 8 years. Phenomenal health, joy and fun times are on the way. May they be the best we’ve ever known. <3 #love#determination#faith#teamwork#perseverance#happyanniversarysweetie

ps. Eight is my favorite number so I’m pretty excited about this anniversary.

This is how we celebrated Saturday night. Jaim grilled grass-fed New York strip steaks and they were phenomenal! We served it with brussels sprouts in a balsamic reduction (Jaim made these and modified it from a recipe he found last year to make it AIP), sautéed kale with garlic and two kinds of roasted squash. For dessert I made AIP carob brownies. They were really good and such a treat! Tonight after I get home from an appointment with a new provider we are going to see the Peanuts movie. Should be fun. While we usually go all out for our anniversary with more fancy plans, this year I wanted to keep it simple, yet special. I think we succeeded.

Happy World Diabetes Day to all my fellow comrades. While in previous years I really celebrated this day like a holiday, things have changed for me and that’s okay. These are a few things I’m thankful for:

I’m grateful to be alive. There have been quite a few close calls over the last 28 years of living with Type 1 diabetes.

I’m grateful for medical insurance and a can’t-be-beat healthcare team including my awesome endo and super caring and smart holistic providers.

I’m grateful for insulin and the medical supplies which keep me alive.

I’m really grateful for my continuous glucose meter (CGM) which makes life with diabetes much more sane.

I’m grateful for a kick-butt local natural foods co-op just a few miles from my home which gives me access to an abundance of organic fruits and vegetables, many locally grown, and grass-fed meats, etc.

I am grateful for my knowledge and love of cooking which allows me to nourish my body with healthy foods.

I am grateful for my love of movement. Long walks, yoga, cycling and although not fun — the elliptical machine, help me feel so much better physically and emotionally.

I am thankful for a pup who likes to take long walks with me. Although sometimes he can be a little stubborn and just wants to go home right away.

I am extremely grateful for this community and each of you. Thanks for being here and sharing this journey with me as I/we do our best to move toward health and wholeness of body, mind and spirit.

On this World Diabetes Day, I am not thankful to live with diabetes. It makes my life more difficult in so many ways. But I manage, some days better than others. 🙂 And it has taught me a lot. I love to share everyday on Facebook things I do to help make life not only bearable, but healthy and fun. While we may be continually challenged in this life with diabetes and/or other health conditions, I’m here to make the most of it! And hopefully inspire you to do so as well.

Getting ready now to rejuvenate by going for a long walk in nature at a local regional park with my husband Jaim and dog Jonah.

Last but not least, my heart is very heavy today for the tragic events unfolding around the world. My heart is with all. <3

Wow! Such a great day, but I’m tired! I posted a pic earlier on the Facebook page for Diabetes Light, but today was the JDRF Type One Nation event. I go every year and love it! My CGM woke me up in the night with an alarm (high… I took insulin) but because I was excited for today’s event, I could not fall back asleep for at least 2.5 hours! Ugh! I I got a lot of reading done and had two cats pestering me for pets as long as I was awake… They finally settled for lying next to me while I read.

Being up so long in the night meant functioning on about 5 hours sleep today instead of the 8 minimum that is a MUST HAVE for me to feel well and have a shot at decent blood sugars. I really pushed myself to the limit and sometimes when I’m tired like this I tend to be extra chatty which feels kind of awkward….. I guess that explains the length of this post too! 😉 Originally this was meant for Facebook but due to the length I decided to put it in an actual blog post.

The reminder email said the event was from 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM. Running late, I skipped washing my hair, instead piling it into a bun and just took a quick hot shower. Jaim helped out by cutting up collard greens for me to sauté quickly before leaving with the breakfast in hand I’d eat there — the usual: veggies, homemade breakfast sausage, squash and delicious green tea which is something I savor every morning.

I rushed into the event, fortunately only about 6 miles from my house, to learn that I was of all things, early!! Anyone who knows me knows this never happens! Especially for something in the morning. Turns out the vendor booths were from 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM and the keynote speaker wasn’t until 10:00 AM! With time to spare, I introduced myself to the keynote speaker, Gary Scheiner, who said he had heard my name before as a blogger which was a pleasant surprise.

JDRF always brings us top speakers (previous years: Natalie Strand, Kerri Sparling, Moira McCarthy Stanford) and this year was no different. Gary Scheiner, author of “Think Like a Pancreas” (& exercise physiologist + Type 1 himself) was one of the best speakers I’ve heard! His afternoon talk was on the CGM and his earlier one was comparing Type 1 diabetes from 30 years ago to now. He is both funny and so knowledgeable and his books are definitely on my list to read. For anyone else who wears a CGM and may have wondered, I asked about calibration and he said to not calibrate more than 2-4 times a day.

I had the opportunity to connect with so many wonderful Type 1’s and others I know which was a lot of fun. While I love and appreciate the diabetes online community, there is something so special about spending the day in person with people you share such a major part of your life in common with. Unfortunately I did not get photos of everyone I had the pleasure of visiting with, but here are a few. 🙂 And while I came home completely zonked and cannot wait to get to sleep tonight, Type One Nation always fills my spirit with so much joy and gratitude.

A special thanks to JDRF for bringing us this spectacular event each year. If you have not yet attended, I highly recommend checking out a Type One Nation event near you! #JDRF #blessed #typeonenation

In Peace & Light,

Cynthia

Arriving early: empty auditorium!

Laddie & Katie

Gary Scheiner giving keynote speech

My beautiful 13 year old T1D friend

Laddie, Allison, Me & Scott!

Allison & I with Gary Scheiner

I didn’t know she was taking it, but a friend snapped this of me during the morning talk 🙂

Inflammation in my body which caused a resistant-to-heal case of plantar fasciitis and severe adrenal fatigue kept me from playing tennis for over 3 summers. Feeling so much better with the autoimmune protocol (AIP) and my continued use of homeopathy and other holistic therapies, I was able to play tonight and wrote this poem when I got home. I am SO grateful for it all — it’s been 8 months now of healing now on AIP and I look forward to continuing to feel better and better and having the energy to do more things I love!

A Poem for Tuesday: These Moments of Joy

We played tennis under the
Purple and peach sky
Such beauty on this
Late summer night

We played as long as we could…
About 50 minutes
Until it was so dark
We could no longer see the ball
And Jaim said he saw a bat
Fly overhead!

Sadly night fell
By 8:00 pm
Fall and a l-o-n-g Minnesota winter
Are just around the corner

Gotta squeeze out
Every last bit of summer
And enjoy the warmth
While you can
Below zero days
Wind chills
Snow and ice
Are straight ahead!

With no more sunlight
To play our game
We packed up
And walked home
Smiles on our faces
And the pup Jonah
By our sides

It was a good night
And felt fabulous
To be on the court again
Only my 2nd time all summer!
I didn’t take a moment
For granted

I love my new tennis skirt
Conveniently holding
Two balls on each side
And my new shoes
For playing tennis?
I was able to move
Effortlessly around the court!

Running fast
To swing at balls
My feet completely healed up
They were feeling great!

And guess what?
With long volleys
And competitive shots
Back and forth
I forgot about the tooth pain
From my dental procedure
Just a bit!

That’s the miracle
Of getting outside
And doing something you love
It allows you to take
Everything else in stride!

The simple things
Are what matter so much
I’ve experienced enough pain
To learn this lesson
Better than most!

So I go to bed
With a thankful heart
Appreciating every moment
And thanking God–
These moments of joy
Sure fill me up!

Thank you God
Thank you
Feeling better
And more like me–
There’s just nothin’ better!

Just returned home from my monthly visit with my homeopath. Sometimes I like to share with you a little about the appointment and today is one of those days. 🙂 I’ve been working with him over 8 years but something at the end of my appointment today peaked my interest. Do you have a provider on your team that looks at your health in it’s entirety? When you work with a true holistic healer, they are not looking to strengthen just one part of you (in Western medicine this is most commonly the physical part), but all parts that make you you!

He mentioned in homeopathy that physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health are all tended to. He said that my intellect is very high as well as my spiritual health (this put a feather in my cap!). But that my emotional health is variable (it is much, much stronger than it used to be, but yes, I get down sometimes… and I can be hard on myself). And that my physical health is low (it is starting to bounce back greater than it has been in years, but there is still a ways to go). He is trying to get each of these to be high and equally balanced. I need to get out of my head (I like to read and think a lot!!) and into my heart!

Each month I feel my health getting stronger and I’m healing in ways that used to hold me back. I am so grateful! But, it’s a long process and sometimes it feels like I’ll never get where I want to be. Thankfully, these delightful appointments always bring back my hope and faith.

On the way home, the Indigo Girls song, “Closer to Fine” came on the radio. A big smile came across my face and as I sang along, I thought it was fitting for what was discussed in my appointment. We each have ways to continue healing and growing, but aren’t we all getting a little bit ‘closer to fine?’ I think so! It’s a lot of work and a journey with many ups and downs, but boy does it feel good to make progress and find the “me” beneath the challenges.

*Hang in there! You are not alone.

**pic taken this past week on vacation. I was relaxing and feeling utterly content sitting in the screen porch overlooking the lake. 🙂

ps. Here is a link to Indigo Girls, “Closer to Fine” on YouTube if you’d like to check it out! Anyone else love this song? It’s so great! 😀

In Peace & Light,

Cynthia

Note: Although located in the Twin Cities Minnesota metropolitan area, my homeopath, Jason-Aeric Huenecke, works with patients internationally by phone and Skype. If you’d like to learn more about him and his practice, this is a link to his website. I have no financial interest or gain to make by providing this information, just a strong belief in homeopathy and the quality of care he provides through the many ways I have experienced profound healing.

Editor’s Note: Most of you know how much I love everything holistic! After all, my very blog is about my holistic journey to health. When we look at our body as a whole and work with holistic providers that share this same body, mind and spirit connection, true healing begins. I am so excited to share this blog entry with you today written by a holistically wise member of the Diabetes Light Online Facebook Community. Hayley, who has lived with Type 1 diabetes for 20 years, is such a source of knowledge and inspiration. I know you will benefit from hearing about her holistic journey and the many ways her health has flourished from exploring the far-ranging and healing benefits of integrative medicine.

Thanks for reading! And please give Hayley some feedback through a share, like or comment for bravely sharing her story. Thank you Hayley! I am so glad to know you on our mutual T1d holistic journey to health. I look forward to learning more about how your health continues to blossom with the use of integrative therapies. Blessings.

Recently, an amazing holistic breakthrough has directly impacted my Type 1 Diabetes and my desire for self-care. In the past years (realistically, many of the 20 years that I have lived with T1D), I have truly struggled, never fully committing to my overall health management. After many years of torturing my body by way of ‘forgotten’ glucose checks, guessed boluses/corrections hours after eating, eating habits that I am mortified of, etc., I have finally begun to treat myself and my body in the loving and respectful way that I now believe I deserve.

My recent ‘game-changer’ is CST. Craniosacral Therapy is a type of body work that is done by applying a gentle pressure to different parts of the central nervous system to relieve tension throughout the body. The practice is so difficult to portray clearly to someone who has never experienced it. My practitioner herself said she even has a hard time explaining it to someone she has never treated. There is lots of information you can find online about it, however I couldn’t truly wrap my head around it until after I had several appointments.

I actually found myself in Mary’s (my CST practitioner) office sort of randomly. I had recently been doing some personal spiritual/meditation work, and my mind fell upon the idea that I needed to have some Reiki treatments to balance my chakras. After asking around in my holistic circle of friends for recommendations, I was led to Mary, who is certified in Reiki, CST, and visceral manipulation (although I’m not totally clear on what exactly that is…). She uses her instincts/intuition to tell her which combination of those three techniques to use during a session. I was surprised to find that I experienced significant deep emotional healing after only a few sessions, and have been able to release some old stagnant energy that is no longer productive or needed within my mind/body. My body felt lighter, happier, and healthier immediately after my first session with her.

To me, CST feels like a very gentle massage over various parts of your body, head, back, torso, feet (and Mary has even done some work inside my mouth/jaw area which totally remedied my nighttime teeth grinding and jaw tension). Mary told me that although it is interesting and can be helpful when a client is an active participant in the CST session (I ask A LOT of questions and like to discuss how the session went after it is over, as well as chatting about how I’ve been feeling before we begin), it is not necessary that the person receiving treatment is even aware of what areas of the body/mind/energy field or the accompanying emotional issues that they need work on in order for it to be beneficial. I find it extremely interesting how different organs and body parts relate to different emotions on symptoms in the body.

It was through a session with Mary that I realized my need for a liver cleanse. She commented after my first session how my body had fairly easily released some sorrow, fear and anger. In my second session, I had another big release of anger (which is commonly held in the liver), although she could still feel/sense somehow that there was still some stagnant/stubborn energy that seemed stuck in my liver. After explaining how closely related physical toxicity and emotional toxicity in organs can be, she recommended some gentle cleansing, hoping that by encouraging some physical toxicity to release, that the emotional stuff would clear out as well. I took a few rounds of milk thistle supplementation to work on the regeneration of my liver cells as the old junk was moving out.

Through some reflection and meditation, I started to realize that the anger I had been holding onto for so long was likely directly related to being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at age 9. After living with T1D for 20 years, I finally realized that I had never fully processed it, never truly allowing much faster than I likely would have otherwise, learning as much as I could as quickly as I could about my body and it’s disease in order to carry on with as close to a normal life as I could manage. I think the fact that I never received any counseling/support specifically related to my T1D diagnosis may have played a part in the anger that was suppressed in my system for so long. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, looking back, I felt so alone and beyond my years, and had no one to relate to or discuss it with. I knew I needed to process this so the stagnant anger could leave my body.

I still could not shake the feeling that I needed a deeper liver cleanse to release the anger. After more questioning around to my holistic circle and local contacts, I found myself in an herbalist’s office who worked closely with me (obviously aware of my T1D) to come up with an herbal liver cleanse that took about 2 months total. After that I was simply AMAZED at the difference in my mood and my body, in general. I no longer felt angry at the simple things that I finally realized were not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. My patience was no longer short with my family, and all of the sudden I stopped feeling urges to overeat and ‘damage my body’–my whole appetite and attitude towards food and eating (which was so screwed up from dealing with T1D and it’s implications with eating/food management) was literally reset. All at once I felt ‘worth it’. I know this sounds a little out there, but my life was literally changed in such a profound way!

Once I experienced such a dramatic change in essentially the way I viewed my body and my self worth, I was able to delve deeper into some different ways of eating and self-care that I had been wanting to explore but had never taken the steps to actually start doing so.

I had previously looked briefly into AIP (autoimmune paleo) diet, and although that seemed much too strict for me to jump right into (maybe someday!), I decided to start a modified version of the paleo diet when I fell pregnant with my second (December 2013), mostly to try to avoid the approximately 40 pound weight gain that happened when I was pregnant with my son in 2011. After about a month and a half or so of eating (mostly) grain free, we went to a wedding where I ‘cheated’ and had a toast point with some smoked salmon. After the single piece of toast, I was extremely sick (almost unable to get out of bed) for 2-3 days, experienced severe facial breakouts and mood swings. Several other times shortly after that when I was accidentally ‘glutened’, I was so sick and it became more and more clear that I either have Celiac Disease or am extremely gluten sensitive. Apparently, being GF (gluten free) for those weeks had reset my body’s reaction levels to it. (Although I had not been completely GRAIN free for those 6-8 weeks, when I DID eat grains, I stuck to rice, corn, or something else that was gluten free.)

During those weeks that I started my gluten free diet, my body experienced some significant changes. My skin began to clear up after battling with (at times severe) adult cystic acne for about 5 years. My mood and energy level was better than ever before, and my digestion was finally normal. Even though I never got an official diagnosis, sticking to a gluten free diet keeps me feeling SO good overall, that I barely even miss my old way of eating. Just the thought of being that sick again keeps me on track with staying GF. I may try to add in some soaked grains eventually, as I’ve heard stories about people who cannot tolerate gluten but are able to tolerate some amounts of sourdough and/or soaked grain breads… I may experiment and see how that goes sometime in the future.

Other places my healing journey has led me thus far are to a holistic pelvic care practitioner, an acupuncturist/Chinese medicine doctor, and a naturopath. As my total mind/body healing journey continues, I am constantly amazed at the power of alternative medicine, meditation, and self-care. It is my hope that everyone (suffering from a chronic disease or not!) who desires a holistic healing experience can eventually be led to the resources that they need to truly heal. My holistic journey has only just begun a little over 3 years ago, and I cannot wait to see which direction it leads me in next.

In Peace & Light,

Cynthia

**Hayley lives in the Louisville, Kentucky area. To learn more about one of these amazing healthcare providers or contact Hayley directly, you may email her at: hayleywkaster@gmail.com

Oh my goodness!!! I am not able to share exact details, but wow did this morning’s Diabetes Light Facebook post (displayed at bottom of this article or link to left) come in handy shortly after I wrote it!! Want to share with you to give testament to the life-changing message shared! I had a situation come up this morning that I wasn’t sure how to handle. I reached out for help from two local friends and my husband who is in San Francisco this week at a conference. I wasn’t able to reach any of them and sat back a few minutes, hoping I’d hear from one of them soon. Then, I remembered the post I had shared on the page minutes before… Follow your heart. Follow your own truth — it will not lead you astray.

I drafted an email to the person I needed to communicate with in regards to my situation, writing from my heart. I LOVED it — feeling it proudly displayed my truth. So decided to send it off with no feedback from my friends or husband Jaim. All day long I waited for a response on the situation… in agony… wondering… Did I do the right thing?!? Or had I pushed the envelope too far…

I finally got a response this evening, and… I received the extremely positive outcome I was looking for!!! You have no idea how pleased I am right now as I took a risk of losing it all to follow what I believe in and the truth I feel so strong in my heart.

I share my story with you now to inspire you to have courage to do the same in your life.

On a side note, what I can say is that my writing at Finding Peace Between the Pokes for Diabetic Lifestyle will be resuming this month after a several month break. Can’t wait to get back at it and share my holistic message of body, mind and spirit health and wellness with the world. Thanks, as always for your readership, support and just being awesome you. I am blessed. Never does a day go by that I’m not extremely grateful to have people who want to read what I write as I share so transparently from my sensitive heart. <3

ps. Two of the three I contacted this morning for help eventually wrote back, suggesting I accept the situation as is. If I had decided not to follow through in the manner I did (going forth with my own thoughts & ideas about the situation and taking action with the gusto of my own heart!), I never would have realized my own potential or experienced the immensely positive outcome I was seeking. 🙂 Wow, such an amazing and powerful lesson that I will carry with me. I’m so thankful for this growth, always.

Follow your heart and pray. There is such a connection between our spirit and the Divine. Do you feel it too? The answers are right there waiting for you or will arrive when the divine timing is just right… How will you know? Whatever you are most passionate about — whatever makes your whole being tremble with aliveness, producing the greatest joy in your heart and smile on your face. This, is what you are called to do. Ask, listen, receive. God will back you up 100% on these endeavors of your heart. Never listen to the people around you saying it’s not possible! You know your own truth. Honor it. What you are capable of will amaze you.

How is this connected to diabetes? In every way! Body, mind and spirit are all connected. To have health that thrives and a joyous life worth living, we need to remember to look at ourselves this way.

Thanks Karen Salmansohn for this image and great quote this morning. Very thought-provoking. What are your thoughts?

ps. I am not talking about medical care here. Always see your doctor or healthcare provider for medical concerns. This is for matters of the heart and your life purpose!